You are about to buy a new drive, or you suspect your current one has slowed down, and the box only gives you a single peak number. Roadkil's Disk Speed measures how a drive actually behaves when it reads data, and gives you a score you can compare between drives.
Quick facts
- Version: 2
- Platforms: Windows 9x/Me, NT 4, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10 and 11
- Installer: none needed, it is a single small file of about 48 KB
- Language: English
Key features
Linear and random read transfer rates
You get the linear read rate and the random read rate for the drive, so you can see how it handles both big sequential files and scattered small ones.
Seek time measurement
The program reports the seek time of the drive. This is the figure that tells you why a drive feels sluggish when many small files are opened.
One overall score for comparing drives
An overall score is calculated, so you can compare different brands of drives when purchasing.
Drive details at a glance
It shows information about the drive, such as firmware revision, model, size and file system.
Who it's for
It suits you if you want a quick, no-install read-speed check on a drive before you buy it, or when you want to compare two drives you already own.
Pros and cons
- Pro: tiny, standalone and portable, with nothing to install.
- Pro: it covers linear reads, random reads and seek time in one run.
- Pro: it runs on a very wide range of Windows versions.
- Con: it has no write test, so you only learn about read performance.
- Con: the score formula is not published, so the score is only useful for comparison.
- Con: it does not support mapped network drives.
What users say
SnapFiles describes it as "a small and simple utility" for checking the read speed and access time of a selected drive.
FAQs
Does it need to be installed?
No. It is a standalone program that runs without an installer.
Does it test write speed?
No. It only tests reading, which also means it does not overwrite anything on the drive.
What does the score mean?
It is an overall figure that lets you compare different drives against each other. The exact formula is not given.
Which Windows versions does it run on?
From Windows 9x/Me and NT 4 up to Windows 10 and 11.
System requirements
Windows 9x/Me, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, 10 or 11. The download is about 48 KB.